Anti-gay, black atheists have been getting too much attention recently

I'm not familiar with the claims that the black community is very anti-gay. I assumed that was some exaggerated claim. However to hear such vocal criticism lately from two black atheists is frankly just embarrassing.

I'm going to guess and assume that there's been enough discussion on this forum about one member, Charlie. He's been harassing The Atheist Experience lately. Then there's the Black Atheists of Atlanta's, Blackson, who suggested homosexuality was a white, european conspiracy. I don't assume or expect rationality from a person just because they identify as an atheist but... wow. Are Charlie and Blackson typical characters in the scene? I had a meeting with local black atheists who sighed in disappointment when I brought up Blackson's name. I had never heard of either of these characters.

The black atheists I've met (not enough of them!) seem to be progressive-types, generally. Heck, ALL the atheists I've met tend to be progressive. :) But then I meet the occasional conservative, although they're a minority. I have no sense of how many black atheists might hold those homophobic views.

I had never even heard of this guy until recently. Debbie - I just read your article, and you posed the very question that I was thinking. If his views aren't based on a sense of religious morality, then why in the world is he so hateful and vitriolic in the way he speaks about gay people? Something about that situation just doesn't make any sense. His hate-filled rants actually remind me of someone who is gay but they are so adverse to the thought of being gay that they not only try to convince themselves (and everyone else) how straight they are, but they go to the extreme exhibiting ridiculously homophobic behavior. He clearly has some underlying issues at play. I know some religious bible thumpers who don't even carry on about gay people as much as this guy does.

I stopped attending Christian churches about 40 years ago when I was in my teens. I don't remember any anti-gay rhetoric at all. I remember the gays in my small town of Wildwood New Jersey referred to as being funny. But I don't remember people condemning them. Even later in life I don't remember Black Christians demonizing the gay community until fairly recently. I have always lived in the Northeast so maybe it's a Southern thing. But in the last few years I have noted a growing animosity of Black Christians towards gays. Maybe it was always there but not openly. It's seems to be even worst in Caribbean churches. One of the arguments I hear from Black Christians is that they don't appreciate gays comparing discrimination against Blacks as the same as discrimination against gays. They feel being gay is a choice and of course being Black is not. It is difficult for me to believe that so many gays committed suicide because of harassment if their lifestyle is a choice. I always thought of Atheist as being more enlightened since we are also ostracized but I guess not all of us are enlightened. I just hope the gay bashing Black Atheist are an insignificant minority.

I attended a southern Christian church in Virginia, and I don't remember a lot of hateful rhetoric regarding gays either. Like you, the few gay people in our community were described as funny. I remember a vague sense of being taught that being gay was wrong, but I honestly don't remember a lot being said about it one way or the other. I think that some churches may be focusing more on it now because so many more gay people are coming out. We are comfortable with who we are, and not hiding ourselves or our spouses in the closet anymore. That's just my personal view on it. I think in the past, churches didn't really talk about it because it wasn't something that was discussed out in the open. I, too, have heard many Black people complain that the gay discrimination shouldn't be compared to racial discrimination. I don't know why some people really believe that anyone would choose to be gay, with all the ignorance we have to put up with. Also, they seem to conveniently ignore the fact that some of us are both black and gay. I would have to be a serious glutton for punishment to choose to be gay as a member of the black community. Nobody kills themselves over something that can be remedied by simply making a different choice.

Here in Ct, the brand of xtianity i was brought up in was virulently opposed to homosexuality. After years of growing up in this environment I began to think that they protested a little too much. I think the same may be true for Charlie, or what ever his real name is. I've also heard his nonsensical rants of The Atheist Experience. I wish that one of the host would ask him why his he so opposed to marriage for homosexuals.

I agree with Eddie E. Hicks Sr. I am from the Caribbean and has been living in the U.S for a while now and the anti-gay language appears to be worst in Caribbean churches; Caribbean churches both in the Caribbean and in the U.S. In fact, the Caribbean people charge the U.S with facilitating the spread of Gays and Lesbians around the world. The Jamaican Rastafari's stance towards gays is just a glimpse into how gays and Lesbians are thought about in the Caribbean. Indeed, I can sadly recall that last year (2010), I believe, an holiday cruse ship charted by Gays was denied entry into my home country.

I have no idea who these Atheist guys are, and I haven only met one black Atheist (Atheist in general) who are very progressive, so I cannot give an amount that isn't anti-gay. However, I can say that Black religion people, including Blacks in Afrocentrism, are extremely anti-Gay. In fact, the notion that homosexuality was a white, european conspiracy is itself a Afrocentric idea. Samantha B is right, this guy clearly has some underlying issues at play, he might just be gay himself.

On one of my several trips to Jamaica a comedian performing at the hotel where we were staying asked the audience how many children did Bob Marley have. Several people yelled out what they thought was the answer. The comedian then answered "Bob Marley had no children. In Jamaica only women have children. Men are men and women are women." I take that to mean that they don't like gays in Jamaica. You’re either a man or a woman. A gay couple staying at a resort where we were staying told us they were denied reservations at some couples only resorts in Jamaica. I also saw a documentary on cable TV a couple of years ago about the strong anti-gay sentiment in the Caribbean.

Most people are content with the belief that black atheists do not exist. When there is finally some national buzz about them, it is in the form of taking these two clowns to task. Those guys are an embarrassment. In a perfect world everyone would understand that there is a wide spectrum of ideas/beliefs/behaviours in any group. In THIS WORLD these turkeys are likely to be the only black atheists that most people will ever hear from and as a result will create a false belief that we are all like that.

Are these the type of people who cause that coward Neil Degrasse Tyson to refuse to call himself and "atheist" because they are "not like him?"